Looking back at all 79 completed portraits of beloved Uncle Ho, artist Vo Dong Minh felt a surge of happiness. “The wish of a son of the South upon hearing the news of Uncle Ho’s death has only now been fulfilled,” the 85-year-old artist, residing in Tan Bien town, Tan Bien district, said softly as if talking to himself.
The promise of a southern son
Recalling the time more than 50 years ago, artist Vo Dong Minh said that in 1969, when his unit was studying Resolution No. 9, they received news of Uncle Ho's death. At that time, everyone was sad. After studying the resolution, Mr. Tu Van - Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department directed the construction of a temple to worship Uncle Ho.
Students of Hoang Le Kha School dug and compressed the soil into bricks to build a temple in a forest. The Propaganda Department assigned Mr. Vo Dong Minh and artist Ba Trang (Tam Bach) to paint a portrait of Uncle Ho to place on the altar for the memorial service.
Before Uncle Ho's spirit, Mr. Vo Dong Minh promised that if he was still alive after the war, he would draw 79 portraits of Uncle Ho, because the people of the South had not seen Uncle Ho and always longed to meet him; conversely, when he was alive, Uncle Ho also wished to visit the people of the South. Therefore, he was determined to draw 79 portraits of Uncle Ho in many different poses so that the people of Tay Ninh in particular and the people of the South in general could know more about Uncle Ho.
“At that time, printing was still very backward, and Uncle Ho's pictures published in newspapers were not very clear. So I wanted to use the art of painting to make them clearer, so that after liberation, I could serve the people of the South to see Uncle Ho,” artist Vo Dong Minh confided.
According to the senior artist, although in the following years science and technology advanced and there were many paintings and pictures of Uncle Ho, he was still determined to fulfill his promise to Uncle Ho's spirit. After the country was reunified on April 30, 1975, artist Vo Dong Minh was appointed as Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Tan Bien district. After that, he transferred to work at Tay Ninh Museum and became Deputy Chief of the Office of Tan Bien District Party Committee.
Although he was always busy with work, every year on Uncle Ho's birthday, he took the time to draw a portrait of Uncle Ho. Because in the early years after the liberation of the South, economic conditions were extremely difficult, the artist did not have the means to buy painting materials, so he chose the iron pen method to depict Uncle Ho's image.
In 1996, he retired early, but during this time, the demands of making a living and many other things prevented him from spending much time, wholeheartedly, and wholeheartedly on his dream. It was not until recent years, when his children had all grown up and settled down, that he had the opportunity to fulfill what he had dreamed of since his youth.
Mr. Vo Dong Minh recalled that at first he drew Uncle Ho's portrait on small-sized checkered paper. After nearly completing 79 paintings, he realized that drawing on such small paper was not worthy of his stature and could not fully express his majesty. From then on, he switched to drawing Uncle Ho's portrait on roki paper with a large size of about 80 cm x 110 cm. Each stroke with an iron pen was only slightly larger than the tip of a hair. Therefore, if he had to draw continuously, it would take him about 2 months to complete a large-sized portrait on roki paper. On average, it would take him about 3 months to complete a portrait of Uncle Ho.
To find portraits of Uncle Ho, this border artist had to spend a lot of effort going everywhere to search and collect Uncle Ho's photos from different historical photos and from many different angles. "There are group photos in which Uncle Ho's photo is smaller than a little fingernail. I had to copy the archive photos, then use a pen to draw them larger," said Mr. Minh.
More than 10 years ago, when I visited, I saw that artist Vo Dong Minh had completed nearly 20 portraits of Uncle Ho, with nearly 60 more waiting to be painted. He was worried about whether he still had enough time and energy to fulfill his dream. Fearing that old age would hinder the fulfillment of his wish, over the years, the artist born in 1942 always devoted all his time to painting. There were times when he woke up at two or three in the morning and sat at his easel.
Complete the greatest work of his life
After many years of hard work, in 2023, Mr. Vo Dong Minh completed the biggest project of his life. Currently, 79 portraits of beloved Uncle Ho are framed in glass or wrapped in nylon bags, carefully preserved. However, until now, this labor-intensive project still lies quietly in the house, not known to the people of Tay Ninh in particular, and the people of the South in general, as he once wished.
The artist said that in previous years, when he had just finished painting a few dozen paintings, Tan Bien district brought them to the district Children's Cultural Palace and Thanh Bac commune (Tan Bien district) for exhibitions a few times. Last year, someone came to negotiate, intending to bring all 79 portraits of Uncle Ho to exhibit in Nghe An province, Uncle Ho's hometown, but he did not agree. Because this unit displayed and exhibited in a garden space, he was afraid that the sunlight would affect the paintings.
Painter Vo Dong Minh added that in recent years, a person in Ho Chi Minh City has repeatedly come to his family, asking to buy all 79 portraits of Uncle Ho, but he did not sell. Because he wanted these paintings to serve the people of Tay Ninh in particular, and the people of the South as he wished.
Artist Vo Dong Minh's real name is Nguyen Van Lam, born in 1942, from Long An province. In 1950, when he was still a boy, he followed his parents to Tay Ninh to start a career. Ten years later, he began studying painting with a painter in Toa Thanh district (now Hoa Thanh town). After that, he took the entrance exam to the Saigon College of Fine Arts, studied for a year, then dropped out, followed the call of the country, and participated in revolutionary activities.
With the pen as a weapon, he followed the revolutionary soldiers, rushing everywhere on the battlefield. He painted many themes about the resistance war such as: the French colonialists failed at Dien Bien Phu, the US imperialists sent troops to the Vietnam battlefield, President Ngo Dinh Diem was a lackey, the US used force to divide Vietnam into two regions, the South and the North, soldiers rowed boats across the river ... His paintings were drawn very vividly, exuding the strong resistance atmosphere of our army and people, exposing the invasive nature of the enemy and the lackeys who sold out the country.
During this time, the border artist continued to use his talent to criticize social evils such as illegal racing, embezzlement between state-owned enterprises and dishonest merchants, unplanned childbirth, leading to poverty and unhappiness... His paintings with the pen names Vo Dong Minh, Nguyen Dong Minh were published in a number of newspapers such as Quan Doi Newspaper, Thanh Nien Newspaper, Tuoi Tre Cuoi, Tay Ninh Newspaper... He won an award at the national propaganda painting and caricature contest in 1996; and won the first Xuan Hong Literature and Arts Award of Tay Ninh province in 2013.
| Due to racing against time and focusing too much on painting Uncle Ho, artist Vo Dong Minh's eyes gradually became blurred and he could no longer see colors clearly. In 2024, the 85-year-old artist went to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for surgery. Up to now, he has not been able to continue his painting career because his eyes have not recovered. He is currently very anxious because he still has an unfinished project of painting all the portraits of members of the Tay Ninh Literature and Arts Association. |
Ocean
Source: https://baotayninh.vn/hoa-si-vo-dong-minh-hoan-thanh-uoc-nguyen-ve-79-tranh-chan-dung-bac-ho-kinh-yeu-a190249.html
![[Maritime News] Treasury Department Targets Diverse Networks Facilitating Iran's Oil Trade](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/402x226/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/7/14/43150a0498234eeb8b127905d27f00b6)
Comment (0)